The Attorney General of Michoacán, Carlos Torres Piña, announced this Saturday that a wanted person notice has been issued to all prosecutor's offices in the country to locate José Manuel Jiménez Aranda, the head of bodyguards for former mayor Carlos Torres Manzo Rodríguez, who went into hiding on November 1. Jiménez Aranda, along with the other seven bodyguards who formed the former mayor's inner security circle, has been issued an arrest warrant for the crime of qualified homicide through commission by omission, as a guarantor. The retired army colonel was hired by Manzo Rodríguez at the beginning of his administration in September 2024, as the secretary of security for the Uruapan municipal police. However, due to being reported by his romantic partner for domestic violence, he lasted less than a month in the position. Nevertheless, Carlos Manzo appointed him as his personal bodyguard coordinator, and it was Jiménez Aranda who was in charge of selecting each member of the former mayor's security detail. Almost all of Carlos Manzo's bodyguards had been part of the Mexican army, came from other states in the country, and were retired. Colonel Jiménez Aranda was one of Carlos Manzo's most trusted individuals and had access to the former mayor's family and social circles, so he knew his routines perfectly. On November 1st, the material killer of Carlos Manzo, a 17-year-old identified as Victor Manuel, made three attempts to approach the former mayor during the Festival of the Candles, held at the Plaza de Los Mártires in Uruapan. It was on the third occasion that he managed to shoot the former mayor six times. According to forensic investigations, there was a seventh shot, but it was fired by one of the former mayor's bodyguards and allegedly with the same weapon as Carlos Manzo's killer. It is currently unknown if the former head of bodyguards, José Manuel Jiménez, was present on the night Carlos Manzo was killed.
